Weight-operated mechanical time-fuse.



A. JUNGHANS.

WEIGHT OPERATED MECHANICAL TIME FUSE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 4, 1914. RENEWED MAR. 21.1918.

1,266,687. Patented May 21,1918.

lNVENTOR 5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THUR J UNGHAN S, 0]! SCHRAMBERG, GERMANY.

WEIGHT-OPERATED MECHANICAL TIME-FUSE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application flied February 4, 1914, Serial'No. 816,598. Renewed March 21, 1918. Serial No. 2233,8001.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR .IUNGHANs, privy commercial councilor, a sub ect of the King of Wurttemberg, residmg at Schramberg, Wurttemberg, Germany, have mvented certain new and useful Improvements in Weight-Operated Mechanical Time-Fuses, of which the following is a specification.

' Thisinvention relatesv to weight-operated mechanical time-fuses, the construction of the fuse being such that the same is rendered "more useful than hitherto especially for hea guns.

The clockwork fuses hitherto adopted are usually spring driven. It has however been proved that the spring driven mechanism does not fully'meet the demands with regard I large number of ,300

to precision, and this is supported by the fact that notwithstanding the practically perfect construction of the single parts, such clockwork operated fuses with spring drive have notbeen universall adopted. This is mainly due to' the fact t at the spring does not insure that uniformity of power transmission, which is required for-the' purpose of preventing dispersion especially for projectile fuses. Even though-as'already proposed-the number'of vibrations of the balance was considerabl increased (up to 300 vibrations per second ,experience has shown that the required uniformity has not been attained. -Moreover, even the said relatively vibrations per second, wh ch represents the practically permissible utmost or extreme limit for sprmg mechanism, is by no means 'suflicient for heavy guns in order to render the troublesome influences of. irregular weight-distribution, etc., undetrimental. The results for field guns are also so variable that it may be regarded-as 'roven that even the maximum increase of t e number of vibrations in connection with sprin -driven fuses never'absolutely guarantee t e required precision for s" e ObJBCt has however a so not been attained by the proposed. but not practically carried out, driving of the clockwork by centrifugal force, because a spring had also to be resorted to for balancing the centrifugal force. It will never possible in ractlce toso adapt the spring in each in ividual case'that its tension is always constant, so

justment of the anchor for mixed that owing to the want of a perfect action of the balancing member, the first and essential condition for the required most preclse regulation or adjustment of the mechamsm, 2'. e. a most uniform driving power, 1s not fulfilled.

All these circumstances have led the mventor to create a novel driving and re ulating or adjusting means, which embo es the advantages of the hitherto known or proposed types but completely obviates the1r disadvantages. The novel arrangement con sists in the combination of an absolutely springless and yet balanced weight-drive (wherein the momentum of force is balanced by suitably varying the weight dl'lV- ing force or the leverage according to United States Patent 1,069,094, of the inventor) with such an escapement, whose balance is accelerated beyond the practically permissible limit for sprin mechanism and whose anchor is adjusted or mixed escapement (the one pallet adjusted to rest and the Pate'nted May 21, 1918.

tions exceeding the practically permissible I maximum number of vibrations for spring mechanism. A number of vibrations of at least 400 may thus be advantageously used, if necessa whereas, in connection with spring mec anism, this number of vibrations would be impossible in view of the permissible maxium strength of the sprin and the danger of breakage increasing wi the increasing strength of the spring, as well as the irregularity of the power-transmission. Fmally, the third element, namely the adescapement also enables an easy start and a good regulation, while, on the contrary in the case of a repose-escapement alone, the starting 1s not always possible and, in the case of a recoil" escapement, ,onl capiaziity is attaiillllable.

e erring to e accompanying drawing Flgure 1 1s a. general view of a time-fuse" embodymg the present improvements, the

y a slight regulating the shaft carrying the timing force exerted by the weight 2 1s modified by principally upon two plates m and n, the ar- 1 ar to that illustrated U. S. Patent No.

rangement being sim and described in my 1,069,094. p designates thecentrifu al driving weight mounted upon an arm a aving a rack thereon meshing with a pinion d u on disk-R. he

a weight 1) carried upon a toothed plate 6 -meshing with a pinion 6 fast upon the same shaft c .with which the rack on the arm a meshes. The weight 32' is preferably adapted to swing outward during the initial movement of the weight p, to augment the force of the weight p, (when the force exerted by the weight ;0 is relatively small) and to swing inward during the latter part of the movement of the weight p, to diminish the force of the weight p, (when the force exerted by the weight p is relatively large). The force exerted'by the weight 7) upon the shaft 0 is by this means made ractically uniform.

Connected to the s aft 0, through a suitable train of gears, f, g. h, i, is an escape wheel w. Coacting with the escape wheel 'w is a balance u havin two pallets u, u, thereon. One of the pa lets, a, is a stop-or arrestin pallet. e escapement is a mixedescape ment, the allet a functioning with the escape whee as a repose or dead-beat escape- .ment, and the pallet u functioning with the escape wheel as a recoil escapement. The

constructlon and operation of this kind of an plallet, and the other, u, is a recoil escapement is well understood by ersons versed in the art of clock-making. he escape wheel is pivoted at w", and the balance a upon the pivot u. a; is the balance spring. The balance spring is wedged in aho e formed in the balance u, by atapered pin 0. The pin 12 is prolonged, and acts to counterbalance the weight of the spring. The outer end of the spring I) is held between two pins '0 which are moved lengthwise of the spring, for adjusting the working length of the spring, and thereby effecting a regulation of the action of the esca ement.

It may be advantageous y pointed out herein that the mixed escapement, according to the present invention, admits of a considerably higher number of oscillations of the balance per unit of time, and admits of greater'reliability in starting and accuracy in working than is obtainable by other styles of escapement. If. the two pallets were .adapted for rest or dead-beat esca ement,

the starting of the mechanism coul not be depended upon under all circumstances. If the two pallets were adapted for recoil escapement, there would be attained a relatively imperfect action of the escafpement, as regards regularity.

I claim:

1. In a time-fuse for projectiles, the combination of i I ition means, a clock-work, a driving weig t and a mixed escapement. I

2. In a time-fuse for projectiles, the combination of ignition means a clock-work, a compensated centrifugal driving weight, and a mixed escapement,

In witness whereof, I have hereunto si ned my name in the presence of two subscri ing witnesses.

ARTHUR JUNGHANS. 

